


Flight of the Lost

by orphan_account



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-03
Updated: 2020-05-05
Packaged: 2021-03-01 19:54:00
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,711
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23992612
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: The Winter Soldier- James "Bucky" Barnes- is on his own after HYDRA's collapse. He doesn't return after dragging Steve from the river, instead deciding to make it on his own. With nothing but his skills, muddled mind, and his weapons, he has to find his way to safety and not get caught.
Kudos: 2





	1. Chapter 1

He left the man by the river, dropping him and trudging away. His clothes were heavy, soaking wet, and his hair was dripping in his face. He wiped it away but ignored the sloshing of his boots. If he got any blisters, they would heal quickly. He glanced behind him to see the blazing fires and mess of metal and downed aircraft. He knew HYDRA would be gone and… In his muddled mind, he knew he did not want to go back. He remembered… Very little. Pain. Orders. Blank.

There were lots of blanks. 

He didn’t remember much. Nothing that counted, at least. He knew languages, how to shoot a gun, how to weaponize many things. He knew he still had weapons on him. A few knives, one in his boot, and a gun on his thigh. But he didn’t know who he was. The man from the river had called him James Buchanan Barnes, but who was that? He wasn’t ‘James’. He was the Soldier. He was just… The Winter Soldier. That was all he knew. 

Was it?

He shook his head. That wasn’t what he needed to worry about. He needed a place to stay, somewhere to lie low. He needed to take care of his injuries before he healed wrong. If he didn’t snap his dislocated shoulder back in place and it healed, he would have to dislocate it again to fix it. He didn’t want to do that. Pain was radiating from his injured arm and he held it close to his body, his other one swinging carelessly. He ran through a mental checklist, sorting through what he needed to do. It was one of the things he was trained to do, but what wasn’t? It was all he knew.

He needed to find a place where no civilians lived. If they saw him they would panic, but he needed a good place he could shelter for the night. He needed to get his shoulder back in place and address his other injuries, though they weren’t very major. He needed to make sure his metal arm wasn’t busted from the River Man’s shield. He needed to have that arm. And he needed to get away. Away where HYDRA couldn’t find him.

He walked through the entire day, clinging through the woods. When night fell about five hours later, he left the woods a bit but kept walking. Eventually, as dawn was breaking over the horizon, he stopped in front of a three-story building. Most of the windows had light behind them, but one on the first floor was dark. He crept toward it, his footsteps silent under his boots, and found that the door was exposed. He quietly picked the lock and slipped inside, his eyes adjusting to the darkness. The room was nearly completely empty. It didn’t seem as if anybody lived there. He shrugged, then forced his shoulder back into place. His jaw clenched as he fought to silence himself. When he finished, he crouched against a wall, watching the door. He didn’t think anybody lived there, but he had to be sure.


	2. Chapter 2

Aurora Boothe sighed tiredly as she fumbled with her keys. Her shift had been much longer than usual- The leds she’d been following were finally the right ones. The satisfaction however, of a case closed was long gone, chased away by the sheer exhaustion. That being said, she was still caught by surprise when she turned on her lights to see a man with shoulder-length brown hair and a metal arm sitting next to her wall. She dropped her keys and when she’d straightened up from retrieving them, the man had stood up.

“I’m sorry,” He apologized. His voice was deep, but not horribly so. “I didn’t realize anyone lived here.”

“It’s… It’s fine,” Aurora sighed, running a hand over her face. “I’m moving out anyway. Today’s my last night. Most of my stuff’s out. I really don’t want to know how you got here.” She said the last sentence when she saw him open his mouth again. “I just got off a thirty-six hour shift that was supposed to be eight. I’m exhausted and I just want a shower. Whatever reason you decided to break into my apartment, it better be a good one. I’m going to go take a shower, then we’re going to figure this out, okay?” She said this as she hung her keys on a hook by her door and took off her utility belt, pulling a gun out and setting it on a small table under the keys. 

She left, the man’s eyes lingering confusedly on her back. Her shower was quick and she returned to him in a hoodie and sweatpants, her hair dripping. “So,” She started. “What are you doing here? Who are you?”

“I needed a place to lie low for a night. Shelter,” He replied. “And… I don’t know who I am. I don’t know a lot of stuff right now. Someone called me James… Barnes?”

Aurora took a breath, then paused. “Wait… Barnes, you said?” He nodded and she disappeared, coming back with a laptop. She opened it and typed in her password, quickly typing in the name in her search bar. She clicked images and the man slowly moved to stand behind her. Both of their eyes widened when they saw his face showing back at them. 

“That’s… Me…” He whispered, reaching out to touch the screen. “What- How? Who am I?”

“Says here that you’re Steve Rogers’ lost best friend, James Buchanan ‘Bucky’ Barnes. Died in February 1945 when you fell off a train. Ring any bells?”

“I don’t… I can’t… I don’t know. I don’t remember. He… He called me Bucky…”

“Who?” Aurora momentarily questioned her sanity. She was standing in a room with a strange man presumed to be dead. She hadn’t demanded he leave, nor had she done more but ask his identity. This was very out of character- she must be exhausted. 

“The man on the bridge. On the helicarrier. In the river.”

“W-Where did you just come from?”

“Washington DC.”

Aurora quickly opened a tab for the national news and scrolled through articles of the weather to find an article posted about eight hours ago. She skimmed it, reading that S.H.I.E.L.D. was gone and that it had been infiltrated by a Nazi-like organization called HYDRA. Steve Rogers, Natasha Romanoff, and a man named Sam Wilson fought against the HYDRA operatives, especially against one called the Winter Soldier. She felt the man, right behind her, flinch as she read the names out loud. She scrolled to see pictures of the three people and the man reached past her and pointed at the picture of Rogers with a silvery finger. 

“Him.” He mumbled. “It was him. I recognized him. He called me Bucky.”

“That’s Steve Rogers, Captain America,” Aurora explained. “If you’re Bucky, he was your best friend.”

“But I don’t remember,” He frowned. “I don’t understand. How can he be my best friend when I don’t know him?”

“Do you know who the Winter Soldier is?"

“Me.”

Aurora glanced back at the man with wide eyes, only then noticing his clothes were damp and his hair stringy. He was hugging his flesh arm to against his chest carefully.

“What happened to your arm?”

He glanced at his left arm. “I- I don’t know, it’s always been metal-”

“I meant the one that is obviously injured,” She rolled her eyes at him, then questioned if that was a good idea. She shrugged it off when he didn’t seem to notice.

“Oh. That was dislocated. I popped it back into place a few hours ago. It’ll be fine in a day or two I think.”

She closed the laptop, choosing to ignore that little tidbit for right now. “Right,” She murmured. “Follow me.”

She led the man to her bedroom which, like the rest of the apartment, was pretty bare. She pulled a pillow and blanket off the bed and gestured for him to lie down. “I’ll sleep on the floor in the living room, you take the bed. We’ll figure out what to do with you tomorrow but right now, I’m too tired to deal with this. I just wrapped up a case involving a double-homicide and it was  _ exhausting _ .”

“I- I can’t take your bed!” The man cried, showing the most emotion he had since Aurora met him, hardly two hours ago. “I’m an intruder in your home, I shouldn’t even be here-”

“I’m not the one who dislocated their shoulder,” Aurora straightened up, her eyes narrowing. Her voice sharpened. “Take the bed.”

The man reacted strangely to this order. He stood straight and stiff as a board and responded sharply in Russian. His eyes darkened and his demeanor turned icy. After a moment or two, he melted and stared about in some confusion. “W-What?”

“Go to sleep,” Aurora sighed. “I’m too tired to deal with this. Tomorrow. But  _ don’t _ wake me up, not unless someone’s at the door. Understand?”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“Good. Goodnight,” Aurora left the room, dragging her blanket and pillow behind her. After a few minutes, the man figured out how to turn off the lights but immediately turned them back on. He didn’t like the pitch-black darkness and decided he could get yelled at and possibly kicked out later. Soon, he heard the woman’s breathing level out to show she was sleeping, but he didn’t fall asleep for hours, his mind too busy swirling about, filled with thoughts of the River Man- Steve Rogers- and this strange woman who had let him stay for the night without either of them knowing even the name of the other. It was strange to him, he decided. He knew that it was unwise to trust someone you didn’t know. It was unwise to trust.

So what was she doing?


	3. Chapter 3

Aurora woke the next day surprisingly refreshed. She sat up and looked around to see the man curiously wandering through her kitchen. She ran a hand through her tangled hair as she stood up and approached him carefully. If he really was the Winter Soldier, that meant he was an assassin, and you should always be careful around an assassin.

“Good morning,” She greeted. He turned and nodded back at her. “So what’s the plan?”

“I didn’t make one,” He responded. She took a moment to study him as she tossed him an apple. His light blue eyes were icy and he had a shadow of facial hair. His brown hair was stringy and falling in his eyes but he didn’t seem to care. He had bruises along his face in sharp straight lines and she wondered where it came from. He was staring at the apple in his hand, examining it carefully.

“How’s your shoulder?” She asked, noticing that he’d caught the fruit with his metal hand. He shrugged.

“Doesn’t hurt. Didn’t much.”

“Okay…” Her voice trailed off, unsure of what to do since he wouldn’t answer with more than a few words. “Well, I’ve got the week off so I can move into my new house and get settled.”

“Where do you work?”   


“Police department. I really should have called you in last night, but I was too tired to care. Decided that if you didn’t kill me in my sleep, I’d probably be alright.”

“I should probably go,” He hadn’t eaten any of his apple, instead passing it to his other hand. “I’ve caused enough trouble as it is. You could get in trouble.”

Aurora shrugged. “I’m not worried about it. I don’t get any visitors and it’s not like you can really go out to town.”

He hummed a bit. “You’re still in danger around me.”

“I can hold my own. I’m a cop.”

“I’m a ninety-something year old Russian trained assassin with a metal arm and no memories. I really don’t think that police training will be enough for you.”

Aurora didn’t choose to reply, instead taking a bite of her apple and walking around a little, thinking. She went through a mental to-do list as the man watched, eventually starting to eat his own apple. Aurora set hers down and nodded sharply.    
  
“Well, I have a few things I need to move out still, including my bed. I have a pickup truck, but can’t take the bed frame and couch out on my own. I’d like to use you to help, but I don’t assume you have a jacket or something to cover your arm up, do you?” He shook his head. “Alright, I’ll go out and pick something up, do you know what size you are?”

“... No?”

Aurora nodded as she started to move to her room. “Alright, let me get dressed then I’ll go out and get something till I’m moved in.”

“Okay.”

Aurora quickly dressed in jeans and a t-shirt, running a brush through her hair. When she left, she made sure to tell the man to stay there until she got back. She bought a big black jacket and a pair of work gloves, hoping they would fit him. She got back to the apartment to find him sitting where she left him, staring at his hands. She handed him the jacket and he wordlessly put it on. It was a bit tight but covered the metal arm. He pushed the work gloves in the jacket pocket instead of exchanging his fingerless gloves and glanced up at Aurora.

“Could you help me move my last few things to my truck? I’m going to have to take a few trips to take the bed and couch over to my new house, but I can’t move them on my own.”

“Sure,” He answered, standing up. He helped her carry the small couch out of the apartment and to her wine-colored pickup truck. She lowered the tailgate and he helped her heave it in. They didn’t converse much as they grabbed everything else that would fit into the bed. 

“Go ahead and get in the passenger’s side,” Aurora told the man. He nodded and obeyed and she went around and hopped into the driver’s seat, turning the truck on and driving a few miles away to her new house in the country. She’d bought a few acres of land and planned to buy some animals, especially dogs. She parked and the two got out and moved the couch into the house. They went back to the apartment and moved the rest of the things then Aurora made them lunch.

“What’s your name?” The man asked quietly. 

“Aurora Boothe,” She answered. “Most people call me Rora.”

“Rora,” He mumbled. “I think.. I think I’m Bucky.”

“Do you want to be called Bucky?” 

He hesitantly nodded. “Maybe it’ll help me remember.”

“Okay. Well, Bucky, why don’t you eat some lunch?” She set a plate with a sandwich in front of him and he picked it up. She sat across from him at the island in the middle of her kitchen and began eating. He followed suit, somewhat surprised that she hadn’t yelled at him, or called him Soldier, or hurt him. 

She was different from what he had known. From his handlers.

~

“Rora, can we get him? Please?”

Aurora shook her head, a smile playing on her lips as she saw Bucky, a grown man and assassin, kneeling on the ground playing with a puppy.

“Pretty sure that’s a ‘her’, Buck,” She laughed. A month had passed since they’d moved into the house and Bucky had come out of his shell a bit. He still remembered very little but occasionally would mention that he’d had a dream and remembered a bit. The dreams were growing in frequency but he still didn’t remember much. Her laughter grew as Bucky picked up the puppy and nodded sheepishly at Rora.

“It’s a her,” He grinned a little. 

“What’s her name?” Rora asked him. He looked around for a tag, not immediately knowing.

“That litter doesn’t have names yet,” A worker came up behind Aurora, catching the two off guard. “We just got them in a few days ago. They got their shots yesterday but haven’t been fixed yet.”

“Fixed?” Bucky looked up at Rora, who could see the horror lingering in his eyes. “Are… They broken?”

“No, no,” The worker laughed. “Fixed means to get them spayed or neutered. So they can’t have babies and cause overpopulation.”

Rora could tell Bucky was deeply shaken as he turned back to playing with the puppies, laughing as one of them tried to tug the glove off of his metal hand. He was extraordinarily gentle with the tiny creatures and he pulled them away from the glove.

“Thank you,” Rora told the worker. He nodded and left the two. Rora knelt down next to Bucky and he looked up at her.

“I don’t want them to be neutered,” He mumbled. “That’s what…  _ They _ did. I… Think.” He frowned. “I… They sterilized…” 

Rora laid her hand on his arm as his voice trailed off. She didn’t want him to get lost in his muddled mind here, in public. “It’s okay, Buck. We’ll get one of them, okay? Why don’t you pick a puppy?”

“But they’ll all be neutered.”   
  
“I know, but I can’t adopt all of them. That gets really expensive, especially with five puppies to buy food and toys for, train, and everything else. Lets start with one, okay?”

“Okay. I want… This one,” He picked up the wriggling puppy he’d been playing with before. She squirmed in his big hands, trying to lick him. She had fluffy brown and black fur and her tail curled up between her legs as Bucky held her.

“Great. Let’s go buy her then.” Rora stood up, Bucky following suit and tucking the puppy in his arms.

“Ro. Rora, look at this.” They were about halfway to the register when Bucky stopped in front of a cage that was about eye level for Aurora. Rora looked in the cage to see a dog sleeping inside.

“What is it, Buck?”

“Look at him,” Bucky pointed in the cage and the dog perked his ears up, lifted his head, then heaved himself to his feet when he realized that he was getting attention. It was when he stood that Aurora saw what Bucky had.

The dog was missing his front left leg.

“Ro, please?” Bucky turned to look at his friend, his face full of child-like wonder and begging, showing no sign of the deadly assassin he was. “He’s… He’s me.”

Pity filled Aurora and she nodded, looking at the dog’s tag on the cage. 

“Company,” She murmured. “That’s a strange name.”

“Only one he responds to,” The worker appeared again. “Are you ready to buy any or…?”

“Oh, yeah,” Rora turned. “Can we get him and this puppy?” Bucky showed him the pup he was holding and the worker nodded.

“Are you sure about Company though? He’s only got three legs, as you can see.”

“He’s like me,” Bucky mumbled, then pulled his glove off, showing his metal hand. “We’re both missing a leg.”

“O-oh,” The worker gasped. “Uh- Yeah, let me just get the papers so you can get these two.” He left quickly, but Aurora caught the blush lingering on his face as he hurried away. 

"Buck, your arm is not a leg," She grinned as she turned to the taller man. "You're missing an arm, not a leg."

“Company’s a really well-behaved dog,” A young woman who was sitting near them spoke up. Her name tag said she was a volunteer. “He’s two years old and been here most of his life. Most people don’t want him because he’s missing that leg, but you guys should be a good fit for him. He’s a real sweetheart.”

“I can tell,” Rora replied, watching Bucky hold the puppy up to Company’s cage, letting the older dog sniff her. “What breed is he?”

“He’s a German Shepherd. Your puppy looks like a Shepherd- Rottie mix.”

“Huh?” Rora didn’t know much about dog breeds, only that the bigger ones tended to have health problems.

“German Shepherd- Rottweiler mix. She’ll get big, that’s for sure, if my guess is right. She’s cute though.”

“Yeah,” The worker came back, holding a stack of papers and a pen, helping her fill them out where they were as Bucky talked to Company and the puppy. While they were doing so, the volunteer disappeared, and soon enough they were leaving, both dogs in cages in the backseat of Rora’s pickup, Company’s cage taking up most of the room.

“Alright, Buck, you stay here,” Aurora told him as she parked in a store parking lot. “I’ll be back with stuff, but you keep them occupied. Windows are down but if they seem like they’re too hot, you can pull their cage out. Just don’t let them out, I don’t want them running off. Understand?”

“Yes, ma’am,” Bucky mumbled, occupied with poking one metal finger through Company’s cage bars. Rora bought puppy and dog food, bowls, collars, leashes, and toys, leaving as fast as she could. She tossed the supplies on the floor of the backseat and started the truck. When they got to the house, Bucky carried Company’s cage and a few bags of their things while Rora carried the puppy’s and the rest of the bags. They let the two dogs out to sniff each other and their surroundings while their bowls were being set up.

“What do you want to call her?” Rora asked Bucky as he finished filling the food bowls. 

“W-what?”

“The puppy. What do you want to name her?”

Bucky slumped against the wall, his eyes wide. “I-I get to name her?” At Aurora’s nod, his gaze dropped to the ground. “I’ve never named anything before…”

Rora didn’t respond, instead watching her friend as he considered what he would name the puppy. She didn’t know much of what he’d gone through, only knowing that he didn’t remember anything and that the people he was with hardly treated him like he was human. It broke her heart as she watched him, the turmoil the one question had sent him through.

“Bug,” He finally answered. “I wanna call her Bug.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry, this is NOT my best chapter. It just feels... Wrong. Hope you like how this one's going, though! Comments, maybe? :)


End file.
